The owner of a Gold Coast Pizza Hut franchise has been ordered to pay more than $215,000 after exploiting a delivery driver and trying to cover it up by falsifying records.

Dong Zhao, who owns and runs Pizza Hut Upper Coomera, was penalised $36,700 and his company, Skyter Trade Pty Ltd, penalised $180,000. The delivery driver has also been paid back in full.

Mr Vijan was in Australia on his wife’s student visa and they both depended on the income from Pizza Hut.

Photo: Pizza Hut Australia - Facebook

The penalties were imposed by the Federal Circuit Court after the Fair Work Ombudsman took legal action to stand up for the rights of Humit Vijan, an Indian man aged in his 20s.

Mr Vijan was employed as a delivery driver between November 1, 2015, and May 31, 2016, and underpaid $6248.41 during this time.

Mr Zhao treated Mr Vijan as an independent contractor and paid him an hourly rate of no more than $16, but the Fair Work Ombudsman argued the driver should be defined as Mr Zhao's employee because he did not have his own delivery business and he was under a high level of supervision and control.

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If he had been rightfully paid as an employee, Mr Vijan was entitled to at least $20.36 for ordinary hours and up to $40.72 for overtime and public holidays under the Pizza Hut enterprise agreement.

The Fair Work Ombudsman said Mr Vijan was also underpaid on a per-delivery entitlement, superannuation and a uniform allowance.

Judge Michael Jarrett said Mr Vijan was a low-skilled visa worker, having completed no more than a secondary education, who had recently arrived in Australia and was looking for work to financially support himself and his wife in her studies.

“He [Mr Vijan] was the sole breadwinner for he and his wife, and was responsible for their daily living expenses, rent, groceries and his wife’s tuition fees,” Judge Jarrett said.

"While Mr Vijan showed some awareness that he was being paid a low rate of pay and took steps to negotiate an increase in his rate of pay from $12 to $15 per hour, he mistakenly perceived that being given more hours per week was a legitimate bargaining tool and adequate compensation.

“Partly as a result of being underpaid, he needed to borrow about $1500 from his cousin in Melbourne and about $20,000 from his father in India, which he says was culturally shameful and embarrassing.

"[The driver’s] evidence was that he was constantly anxious and stressed about their low bank balance and at times felt depressed and humiliated.

"The evidence is that [the driver] was responsible for paying all the running costs for his car that he used for all deliveries he performed for the respondents, as well as paying for replacement tyres, registration and insurance.”

Mr Zhao and his company also breached workplace laws by not producing employment records and providing false records to the Fair Work Ombudsman.

“The failure to keep proper records and to provide pay slips to employees is an insidious practice that is only aggravated by the creation and provision of false documents designed to conceal the employer’s wrongdoing,” Judge Jarrett said.

Fair Work Ombudsman inspectors had previously investigated Zhao’s outlet in 2016 during an audit of more than 30 Pizza Hut outlets and identified widespread problems in the franchise network.

Mr Zhao told Fairfax Media he had cooperated with the Fair Work Ombudsman during their investigation and appreciated being given the opportunity to tell the truth in court.

He said he had paid what he owed in underpayments, given his employees plenty of support and would try to move on and pay the penalty following the conclusion of the court proceedings.